Thursday, 1 May 2014

Pulp Alley - First Game

Last week my good friend Matt invited me round to his place
for our first experience of Pulp Alley. We’d both bought the rulesets and cards
a few weeks ago and were keen to give the game a whirl. Joined by another mate,
Paul, we settled down to a couple of games and a few beers.

The Basic Rule Set & Cards

I have known these guys for several years having worked with
them in a previous role. The weirdest thing was that for the best part of two
years we sat in the same office of 25 and had no idea that we were all gamers.
On top of that we all lived about 10 minutes from each other. It was only be
chance that we discovered that we all had the same interest whilst I was
working out my notice period. What are the odds on three gamers living closely
to each other work in the same small office. I digress.

Indiana Jones looking for plot points

I took the camera along to get some snaps but unfortunately
both the wine and the excitement prevented me from taking a story board format.
So i'll focus this post on the rules themselves and just add the few photos taken of the game.

Pulp Alley is a skirmish rule set that allows players to
re-enact all those pulp action stories eg Indiana Jones. It’s a simple fayre
using about 10 figures per side on a small table. Ideally the table should be
loaded with terrain for cover, perils and plots. The purpose of the game is for
the players to seize plot points and complete the adventure by securing a
defined number. Of course both teams have the same mission and ensures that
combat will ensue.

He still can't find them

Movement is straight forward but as you enter a new zone you
might come across a hazard/peril eg climbing over a wall. This is where it gets
fun. At the beginning of the game each player is handed three cards randomly
from the card deck. These cards tell you skills you must roll against and the
penalty if you fail. To give you an example one of Pauls henchmen tried to
climb through an window. I played a card that required him to successfully roll
against the characters cunning skill,, needless to say he failed and knocked
himself out for the rest of the game.

Maybe they are here

Combat is very straightforward with each character having a
shooting and a brawling skill. These are expressed in the dumber of dice rolled
and the type of dice used. Heroes get d10’s, allies d8’s and lowly folk get
d6’s. To hit you need to roll a four. This is a very similar mechanic to force
on force. However the similarity stops here. The opponent can elect to dodge
(another skill) or shoot back. Both sides roll their respective dice and effectively
hits gets cancelled out by the defenders roll. This does mean the super heroes
are most effective – as it should be. If a character is hit they drop a health
level (again denoted by type of dice) and when they drop belowe a d6 they are
rendered unconscious. There is a chance that they may awake each turn.

The Captains allied

When a player activates a plot point they must fulfil a task
(same as perils but harder) and can spend many turns completing this. We found
that again our super heroes were best at accomplishing these whilst the enemy
were held back by allies. Upon completion the next plot point is revealed on
the board.

The Village - Matts going to repaint the buildings for an arab flavour

I have been really simplistic in my write up but the rules
do capture the essence of the period.

In our games Matt had set out two forces – Indian Jones and
his crew versus some dodgy looking character known as the Captain. The
captain’s forces were significantly stronger and as such won both our games.
The games has a good balance with all players getting involved.

Helicopter view

My only criticism is the layout of the first set of plot
points – the rules said that these should be 12 inches away from the player.
With the second 12 inches away etc. We quickly worked out that if this was the
case canny gamers would merely place these as far away as they could from the
opposition and combat becomes less likely. We opted for a completely random
placement.

The Greek...didn't last long on the building

So whats next well Indy and his friends will appear again. I
have just purchased a great big pyramid and will be building a ruined temple
complete with Egyptian village in the full ness of time….Until next time